May 2021 marked the beginning of my second term as the director of the Institute, my fourth year with the Institute. Two years have passed, which were filled with efforts and initiatives to strengthen the Institute's capacity and capability in preparation to undertake bigger role in bracing future challenges. As a founding member, I've seen the Institute grow from the strength of one member to now five core and ten associate members. Struggling to position itself as a research institute that specialises in Energy Informatics when the Energy Informatics itself is yet to be well defined, is no easy task. The focus for the next five years is to realise the Institute's strategic research roadmap 2021-2025 that has just been completed, reviewed, revised and published as a book. Since August last year, we've been busying ourselves with the development of the roadmap that will chart our path and determine our next course of actions for the next five years beginning 2021.
Determined to have a roadmap that will always be frequented and 'check-listed' once developed, its development was accompanied by a lot of the 'how to' questions to ensure doability and achievability.
The roadmap is not etched in stone of course. Minor changes and updates are expected to keep up with the latest research trends, breakthroughs and government policies. Nevertheless, it should be sufficient to guide us in moving forward while ensuring that we are always on the right track, to caution us should we derail and to enable us to prioritise on what matter most, while aligning all our activities to the roadmap to kill as many birds with a stone. 'Living yet defining', that's how we see the roadmap as it is now. Determined to have a roadmap that will always be frequented and 'check-listed' once developed, its development was accompanied by a lot of the 'how to' questions to ensure doability and achievability.
In a nutshell, the roadmap introduces and elaborates the Institute's niche, which is energy infostructure. It explains the context of each of the Institute's three thrust areas; Intelligent and Secure Energy Systems, Energy Data Integration and Governance, and Energy Data Analytics and Visualisation. Five focus areas are identified under each thrust area where under each, between two and four potential research projects of increasing maturity or technology readiness levels are identified. There are also ten strategic objectives that span across the three thrust areas to ensure inclusiveness in the activities that we are doing, and fulfillment of the University's vision and aspirations. These will all be elaborated in my subsequent writings.
The roadmap book is important for a number of reasons. It is a manifestation of our commitment to what we have planned to achieve in the next five years. Having been able to hold the roadmap book physically is, in itself, a motivation for us to stay committed and focused until the end. It is also important for the succession planning. As people come and go, the book will always be there for the next ones to pick up from where the previous ones left.
We are the avid believers of 'success by design', rather than by chance. Failing to plan is indeed planning to fail. My utmost appreciation and thanks go to the members of the Institute for the commitment given to come out with the roadmap. Now that we have completed it, let's work together to realise it!
Yours truly,
Hazleen Aris
May 20th, 2021
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